Solo hunting trip yields trophy tom

May 07, 2006|LOUIE STOUT

You couldn't blame Julie Milliser for being nervous. It was the opening of Indiana's turkey season and she and her husband, Phillip, had spent nearly a month scouting for toms. The anticipation of any hunt is enough to rattle a person, but there's something about hunting turkeys that puts a person on edge. Especially when you're a woman hunting alone. "Phillip had to work that day and he was leaving for a walleye tournament in Minnesota that night," explained Milliser, who had taken time off from her job as a supervisor in the Plymouth Post Office. "We had hunted deer in that area so I was familiar it. I had my cell phone with me and let my friends know where I'd be." Julie is no stranger to the outdoors. She's fished most of her life; in fact that's how the couple spent their honeymoon more than two decades ago. "I didn't start hunting until about 10 years ago," she explained. "I got tired of sitting at home alone while Phillip was off hunting." She killed a 14-point buck on opening day of the 2004 shotgun season. She had hunted turkeys some, but hadn't registered her first kill. That was about to change. Julie never got a shot off at a bird opening day, but that doesn't mean it was uneventful. "I heard a gobble at first light so I set up my decoys and got into position," she described. "The tom was working his way my direction and was about 70 yards away when I saw something move in from my right." Suddenly, a coyote that had been eyeing her decoys burst into view. "He literally tackled the decoy thinking it was going to eat it," she said. "It was pretty funny, cause he stepped back and looked like he couldn't believe it wasn't real. But then he saw the real turkey I had been calling and took off after it." Any hopes of getting a shot at the real turkey was lost, so Milliser packed up her gear and headed home. She returned early the next morning but only saw two hens. It was a warm, sunny day, so she decided to go home and try again in the evening. "I returned to the woods a little after 4, set up my decoys and began to call," she explained. "After a few minutes, I heard a gobble." Milliser clucked a couple of times, waited 10 minutes and clucked again. A young tom appeared near a woods that bordered a field and a fence line where she was seated against a tree. Milliser debated whether to take the jake or let it pass with hopes she'd get a shot at a bigger bird later. The limit is one bird per season. "It was too far to shoot, so I had time to think it through," she offered. "That's when the bigger tom walked out." Trailing the youngster was a 23 1/2-pound gobbler with a 10-inch beard, a trophy by anyone's standards. Both birds strutted closer as Milliser gathered her thoughts. She picked a spot that she figured the bird needed to reach to be within gun range. She visualized the shot while her heart rate raced. She kept the barrel on her 20-gauge shotgun fixed on the animal's head. When it stepped into her kill zone some 30 yards away, she squeezed the trigger and the bird dropped to the ground. Milliser stayed in position, but quickly dialed up her husband on her cell phone to let him know. Meanwhile, the younger tom paced around the dead bird and gobbled wildly. "I got my husband's voice mail, left him a message, and then called a friend (Rusty Williams) who would help me clean the bird," she recalled. "I picked up my decoys and the dead bird, and that other turkey followed me out of the woods." Milliser was disappointed that Phillip wasn't there to share the moment, but she took pride in the fact she had killed her first turkey while hunting alone.